Are your treasures lost at sea?

Almost 100 items have been lost in just six months on ferries but only a quarter are reunited with their owners Cross-Channel ferry operator DFDS Seaways.

The company's New Year’s Resolution is to try and reunite items left on its ferries with their owners. Last year, Dover Harbour Board handed responsibility for lost property found on ferries, and around the Port over to the ferry operators. Since then, the operations team at DFDS Seaways has worked hard to reunite many lost items from its vessels, and corresponding areas in the Port.

Some items have been successfully restored to their owners. One boy, for example, was reunited with the teddy bear he thought had been lost forever, and was delighted to discover that his teddy had sailed to France and back.

Other success stories include a man reunited with his wallet, with all the money intact, as well as a priceless photo of his father. Another widow was also reunited with a sentimental item that belonged to her late husband.

Chris Newey, the company's director of passenger services for the English Channel route, said: “It’s great to hear about all the stories that restore our faith in mankind. After all, it’s not just the DFDS staff that help recover lost items, but also our customers, and we want to thank everyone who hands anything in that they find onboard.”

Other items lie languishing in the depths of Dover Port, waiting to be reclaimed. Among those are the usual suspects that you might expect to see, including mobile phones, glasses, keys etc, but there are also some surprising things left behind, including a pushchair, keys to a safe, and even a white shoe!

Other valuable lost property includes 54 passports and ID documents, which remain unclaimed, one wedding ring, and even a piece of medical equipment from a doctor’s bag.

A fish that was lost in the Ocean

Just one in seven mobile phones are successfully reunited with their owners, and celebrity Fish from pop group Marillion can’t be included in that minority. He lost his phone on a DFDS ferry whilst touring in Europe, and unfortunately, to this day, it has remained unfound, despite hours of searching by the team.

Newey said: “Our operations team spends hours trying to match lost items with their owners, particularly those with sentimental or monetary value, as we know how distressing it can be for people to think that they have lost passports, or wallets, or mobile phones. But there are lots of items that remain unclaimed, and we want to make it our New Year’s resolution to encourage people to get in contact with us if they think they may have lost something over the past year. There are lots of lonely teddies waiting to be collected by their owners!”